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Saturday's news in 2 minutes

 

 

1. A hospital in Zimbabwe is charging women $5 every time they scream while giving birth. According to a report by Transparency International, when combined with a $50 delivery fee, many women in the heavily corrupt nation end up spending over half of their annual income on giving birth. The fees are forcing women to give birth at home without assistance, with eight mothers dying every day during childbirth in Zimbabwe, according to the UN.

2. A baby boy has been confirmed dead during the search for a boat containing asylum seekers, north of Christmas Island. It follows the rescue of 197 asylum seekers in the same region on Thursday.

3. A third child has died following the Asiana Airlines disaster. The un-named Chinese girl was one of seven people still hospitalised after the aeroplane crash in San Francisco.

4. Six people have died following the derailment of a train in France. The high-speed train came off the tracks and hit a station platform just south of Paris in the country’s worst rail accident in 25 years.

5. It has emerged that telecommunications giant, Telstra, has been storing information for the FBI. The agreement between the two bodies was signed in November 2001, when Telstra was still half-owned by the government and stipulates that Telstra must provide the FBI with data necessary for “electronic surveillance.”

6. There has been controversy at The Ashes overnight regarding an umpiring decision concerning the test’s unlikely Aussie hero, Ashton Agar. The 19-year-old bowler, who scored 98 runs on debut, was set to take his third wicket for the innings when Englishman, Stuart Broad convinced the umpire that the ball had not been caught by Australia’s Michael Clarke. Former England captain, Michael Vaughn, has criticised Broad, saying that he will be: “forever remembered as a cheat.”

7. Adult nappies are set to outsell infant nappies in Japan. The nation expects that its ageing population will see adult nappies become the more popular product by 2020.

8. A TV movie has gained considerable traction on social media after its embarrassingly bad trailer’s release. The ‘does-what-it-says-on-the-tin’ film, Sharknado, is the story of a tornado full of sharks that comes to threaten the city of Los Angeles. Buzzfeed has a collection of the best lines from the trailer, including: “Sharks. I never saw that coming.”

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Top Comments

anon 11 years ago

Did anyone else notice Jessica Rowes rude attitude on Sunrise this morning when reading the news about the Miss Universe contestant

Anonymous 11 years ago

Maybe she's pissed off that beauty competitions make the news in our country. We're obsessed with Miss Australia for girls and cricket/football for boys. How progressive and post-sexism we are!